


That Fateful Night

by MyKeyboardDidIt



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Happy Ending, Identity Reveal, Maybe a little angst, fluffy fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-23 01:00:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16608845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyKeyboardDidIt/pseuds/MyKeyboardDidIt
Summary: Ladybug has made up her mind. Tonight's the night. But is she ready to tell him? Is he ready?





	1. Before I Lose my Nerve

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this! I just had this idea for a story and wanted to see how it turned out.

Ladybug took a much needed break on a random rooftop in the middle of Paris. That last akuma a few hours ago had really taken it out of her. It had thrown her multiple times across whole city blocks as she and Chat tried desperately to get to the corrupted object. Her calves ached from running, her arms from throwing her yo-yo around, her butt from a few not-so-soft landings. Sitting down and hanging her feet over the edge, she let out a sigh of relief. Stress melted out of her muscles at the chance to relax. 

She always hated having to fight an akuma right before patrol time. Sailing through paris sounded awesome until you had already done it two or three times over in the past twelve hours. Sure, they could call off patrol on days like this, but what if that was exactly what Hawk Moth was counting on? No, they remained committed. They had agreed to meet right here at the normal patrol time, fatigue notwithstanding. Hopefully they could make things quick, do a good once over, and go their separate ways. She didn’t  _ not _ want to see Chat or anything, she just had something else on her mind. She was debating doing something, and wanted to do it before she lost her nerve.

Chat bounded onto the roof, landing in elegantly feline fashion. 

“Evening, my Lady.” he purred, sitting down next to her. “Come here often?”

“Maybe too often.” She quipped back with a giggle. “Feels like we were just here.”

“We basically were.”

Ladybug sighed. She had nothing else really to say to that. It was absolutely true. She started to wonder if the only reason she wanted to do  _ that crazy thing _ was because she hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in about a week. She still had to go home and do homework tonight too. Chat’s eyes looked pretty bloodshot, he was probably in the same boat as her. She didn’t realize she was just staring at his face while she was thinking about all of this, so she turned away with a blush of awkward energy. 

“Sorry, I just spaced out.” 

“I don’t mind being the center of your attention.” the cat said with a toothy grin. It melted into a look of genuine concern when she didn’t immediately roll her eyes in mock disgust. “Is there something you needed to talk about?” 

Ladybug let out a sigh. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell him. He was probably her best friend (Or at least, second to Alya). She felt like she could trust just about anything to him, except for the elephant in the room.

“If it’s about your civilian life, you don’t have to offer any details. I just want you to know you can vent to me.” It was like he could read her mind. She looked up, feeling guilty for the way his eyes shone with sadness as he read her face. She decided that surely she didn’t have to be a complete stranger to him to keep their identities secret.

“It’s... about a boy.” She winced as she was afraid to break his heart again. The face that he made didn’t make her feel any better. 

“A boy, huh? Has some dummy gone and broken your heart? I can defend your honor! Just say the word, Ladybug!” He pulled his staff our defensively, looking for an enemy that was obviously not there. She almost chuckled as his eyes darted back and forth.

“N-no, Chat!” she said as he set the baton down and rejoined her on the edge of the roof. “I haven’t even told this boy I like him yet. We’re in the same class. I’ve liked him for months now, but I just can’t get up the courage to confess to him..,” Letting it out now, she suddenly felt all her vulnerability come to the surface. She didn’t usually have any of those feelings as Ladybug, the magic making her confident enough to climb Mount Everest.

“I was going to talk to him right after patrol tonight, just come up to his window like a cheesy movie and…I don’t know what I’d do after that.” She turned away from him, tucking her legs to her chest like she did on her bed at home. She wouldn’t meet his eyes again after saying something so embarrassing. 

“You must think I’m so lame. The hero of Paris, preoccupied with a teenage crush.”

There was a long pause, agonizing them both. 

“Last I checked, Ladybug is just a girl underneath the mask. It’s not strange that she would be in love with someone, just as so many boys are in love with her.” She opened her gloved fingers from around her face to see Chat looking at her with an earnest smile. “Whoever the guy is doesn’t know how lucky he is to be the crush of the Miraculous Ladybug.” 

She almost wanted to cry. He really was such a good friend to her. She knew that he had just as strong feelings for her as she did for Adrien, and he knew that she knew that. She threw her arms around him, burying her face into his shoulder. She felt his hands return the hug, touching her back cautiously but with care. 

“Thanks, Chat. I don’t deserve you.” she mumbled into the leather on his skin.

“You deserve the world, my Lady.” The cat stood up, taking a glance across the skyline that was quickly darkening in the orange dimness of dusk. He took his baton out once more, making it long enough that he could lean his chin onto it as he stood there. “I don’t see any akumas. How about I take care of patrol tonight, and you go talk to this boy?” He punctuated this offer with the Chat Noir Wink and Smirk (Registered Trademark, Total Dorks Incorporated).

“A-are you sure, Chat? I kinda sprang this on you, and I never meant to shirk my hero duties just to…” A clawed finger met her lips, and she was instantly silenced.

“You’ve taught me that love can wait, but that doesn’t mean it has to. Go now, I’ll be fine. If there’s trouble, you’ll definitely know. And I’ll call you, of course.”

This was a terrible idea. Tikki seemed to be subconsciously giving her two cents.  _ No. No. No. Nooooo, Marinette. _

“Yeah...yeah, ok. Be safe tonight, chaton.”

He held up his hand in comedic fashion. “Cat’s honor.”

Feeling confident enough in that, she turned away, looking for his house. Seeing the direction she needed to go, Ladybug threw her yo-yo and prepared to swing away. She looked back at her Kitty, seeing her partner ready to go to the moon and back for her.

“I’ll let you know what Adrien says!” she said before she really knew what she did. She didn’t even notice her mistake, giddiness already building in her stomach. She flung herself into the sunset, slowly disappearing to Chat Noir. 

“Good luck, Ladybug! I hope he…” His hand was waving after her, but it stopped halfway through.

“Wait...Adrien?”


	2. A Race Across the Heart of Paris

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! I couldn't sleep, so I went ahead and did the second chapter. Don't expect the third one in a few hours! It's literally 3 AM as I post this, so if there's gratuitous mistakes in grammar/spelling just tell me in the comments. Thanks for reading!

Adrien was in a full out panic. Had he heard her right? There is absolutely no way she said she was going to see Adrien. Okay, that’s exactly what she said. He had heard her perfectly fine. Oh! But who says Adrien Agreste is who she was talking about. Adrien was one of the most popular French names in the world...what were the odds? Chat Noir’s head was spinning. 

“Okay, let’s work this out.” he said to himself. “The chances that the Adrien she likes is Adrien Agreste, a male model around her age is…” he paused, looking at a billboard he could see from the roof. It only occurred to him at that moment that she was probably looking right at it the whole time they had been sitting there. “...very high, actually.” 

Unsure what else to do, he knew he had to get back to his house before she did. He pole vaulted himself into the darkening night with urgency, feeling his heartbeat increasing. Thoughts swam in his head too quickly for him to grab ahold of. It seemed his brain switched topics as quickly as buildings flew by in his peripheral vision.

_ Was she planning to confess to him as Ladybug, or as herself? Did she have no choice but to be unwittingly revealed now?  _ He could just not show up, but that would break her heart. To not have him answer when she called for him, the rejection after he had tried to build her back up. No, his Lady needed him once more tonight. He was going to be there for her.

_ She said they were in class together...who could it be?  _ It seemed like the more he tried to compare Ladybug to his classmates, the less he could remember about how she looked. It was actually terrifying, to have such an intense feeling of love to someone you were losing the image of. He tried a different approach, he thought about the kind of girl in his class who  _ could be _ Ladybug. 

Chloe was definitely not her. She was much too selfish to be a superhero. He went down the list of each girl in his class and found no one who acted  _ like _ Ladybug in class. The most selfless people in class were Alya, Rose, Alix, and...Marinette. It could even be someone not in his class, but his school. Ladybug could have been being only partially honest, or the class they had together could have been a club like Fencing. His mind clouded again, and he nearly careened right into a building. Was this a miraculous thing? He started to get the idea that he wasn’t allowed to figure this out, she would have to tell him -  _ show _ him - before it would all come together.

His lungs burned with exertion as the exterior of the Agreste Mansion came into view faster than it ever had before. He caught out of the corner of his eye that Ladybug was getting very close as well. He came to the realization that yes, she absolutely liked  _ him _ and was coming to confess to him with the determination he knew all too well of his Lady. He felt his legs turn into jelly as he tried to catch his breath. In spite of his best efforts, she was absolutely going to get there first. He needed a game plan, a way to make this inconspicuous. 

He hurtled himself towards the street just as Ladybug’s gaze turned his direction.He ducked behind a wall and held his breath, hoping she didn’t see anything. 

Silence was all he heard for a few short seconds. He let out a sigh and resumed panting. 

“Claws in.” 

An annoyed Plagg formed from the black of Adrien’s ring. Adrien tossed the kwami some camembert from the pocket he normally hung out in, taking a few seconds to calm his anxious heart.

“How  _ will _ you get yourself out of this one, kid?” He shoved the whole piece of cheese into his mouth, obnoxiously continuing to speak around it. “It would be a lot easier if you would just tell her what’s happened.”

“Plagg, I need you to run interference.” Adrien considered that to not be an option. “Talk to Ladybug, make up some reason why you had to come talk to her. I’ll sneak back in, Ladybug will see me where I’m supposed to be...and whatever happens after that happens.”

Plagg looked like he wanted to throw up the cheese he had literally just finished swallowing. 

“Geez, you’re such a romantic. Look, I’ll see what I can do. I doubt I’ll be able to hold her attention for long, so hurry up!” 

Nodding, Adrien ran towards his front door as a normal citizen.

“Hey, Ladybug!!” Plagg yelled at the superhero as she neared Adrien’s home. She stopped in her tracks, spinning back around to meet him on another rooftop. She looked over the tiny, floating black cat before greeting him.

“Hi, um…”

“Plagg.”

“Hi, Plagg. Are you a kwami? Are you  _ Chat Noir _ ’s kwami? Is he in trouble already?!” 

“No, no! He’s fine, I promise.” Plagg’s voice rose at the urgency in her concern. “He just wanted me to, um...to tell you something. Yeah, that’s it.”

Ladybug’s look of anxiety dissolved into a lack of trust instantly. Her face turned into a light scowl, her hands finding her hips automatically. Her bottom lip pursed as her eyes squinted slightly. Plagg swallowed, hoping she didn’t notice.

“Alright...what did he need you to tell me then?” Ladybug asked, her voice just as skeptic as her posture.

“He...he wanted me to tell you that...that…” The kwami fumbled, never good at improvisation. That was much more of a Tikki thing. She could turn anything into a solution. Plagg was a bust his way out of problems type of immortal god. He finally had an idea, and hoped that how he was making this up as he went along was not evident to Ladybug. 

“He wanted me to tell you that patrol went just fine, no akumas. And if it didn’t work out with Adrien, that he was always available tomorrow night.” Plagg did the Chat wink, making it obvious where it came from. It was much more adorable when the little cat kwami did it.

Ladybug responded in true fashion with an eye roll for the ages, shaking her head for emphasis. Plagg gulped again. Shaking her head meant she almost definitely did not buy his BS at all.

“You can tell the kitty that if he sent you to spy on me with...wait, how did you know it was to see Adrien?” Pieces of the encounter not long ago were slowly coming back to her.

“I-I, uh…” Plagg suddenly had a major case of the cheese sweats, having put his stupid paw in his mouth. “Lucky guess?”

“No, I...I said his name, didn’t I?” She looked Plagg in the eyes. “I did, didn’t I? Tell me if I did that!” Plagg only nodded, cringing. 

“Oh no, oh no ohnoohnoohno!” Marinette returned to Ladybug, having gotten tongue-tied over the beautiful blonde once again. “I told Chat who my crush was, and that we were in class together! This is a disaster. What if he finds out who I am? What if…?” Ladybug continued in circles like this for a while, truly having a Marinette freakout. Plagg was stunned, worried, confused, and very awkward. 

“Uh, Ladybug?” He said at last. He eventually got her attention, waving his little black paws in front of her glazed eyes. “No offense to the kid, but...he’s not the sharpest pencil in the drawer. Y’know what I’m saying?” 

“What are you saying?” She looked angry, probably because she cared so much about Chat. Plagg had basically just insulted him. Smooth, Plagg.

“N-no, don’t get the wrong idea! All I’m saying is that it didn’t seem like he pieced all that together, at least not yet! I think you can deal with it later.” He hoped and prayed to himself that she believed him this time. She regarded him once more with a look of skepticism, but she seemed to not be freaking out anymore. That was a good sign, right? Finally, she spoke.

“Well, if you say so. I can’t back down now either way. I need to talk to Adrien about this before I literally explode. I’ll just go up to the window, drop my transformation…”

“A-actually, Ladybug, I think you should stay transformed! What will it look like if a random girl is just climbing up his window in the middle of the night?”

“I’ll have you know, tomcat, I’m no random girl to Adrien. In fact, I’d be more a random girl as Ladybug than my civilian self!” She looked positively indignant, arms crossed and pouting at the face of the tiny creature.

“Okay okay, fair enough. Well, good luck! I gotta get back to A- uh...Chat, yeah. Chat Noir.” Plagg flew away at top speed, taking a long route around as to not make Ladybug suspicious that he actually lived right where she was going.

Adrien had successfully snuck in through the front door, past the gate (somehow) without tripping the alarms at all. It was incredible, actually. He wondered if he was lucky, or if no alarm was actually armed outside. He made a mental note to try the same path as Chat one night and see if he got the same result. Maybe he could come back through the front door sometimes. The blond model was now in the first pair of pajamas he could find in his dresser, the comforter draped over his eyes in dramatic fashion. He was trying to seem still. Hopefully Ladybug would buy that he was asleep. 

Ladybug, all the while, was soaring through the air towards the  _ conveniently open window _ of Adrien’s bedroom. Surely he hadn’t gone to bed at this early hour, it wasn’t even properly night yet. She took a dive through the window as she dropped her transformation, landing in the darkness on one knee. Tikki flew quickly to Marinette’s purse, just in case. 

Adrien heard her come in, unsure what to do. She stood there for a moment as well, obviously still feeling butterflies. Then he opened his mouth, and said the worst possible thing he could to save this awkward situation.

_ “Is that you, Ladybug?”  _


	3. The Reveal

“Ladybug, is that you? I heard you fly in from the window.” Adrien feigned drowsiness and sat up in his bed. Marinette was frozen in place, silhouetted in the darkness of his pitch black room. The only part of her that Adrien could see where her alluring blue eyes, a mask of white light across her face. She stood frozen in place, caught between a rock and a hard place. She wanted to confess to Adrien herself, not through Ladybug. Ladybug was not a girl who could be his girlfriend alone. At the same time, Marinette Dupain-Cheng could not have just gone feet first through a window and landed perfectly. Neither of them noticed their kwamis, one hid in darkness and the other a purse, shaking their heads identically in disbelief.

“It is me, yes…” Marinette finally said, putting on her heroic Ladybug voice. “But I’m not transformed right now. Honestly, I was coming to confess my love to you as myself. I-It sounds so stupid out loud.” Her fake confidence faltered, and she took a more awkward posture. She was probably giving herself away majorly right now.

“I don’t think that sounds stupid. That’s...really romantic, mi- err, Ladybug!”

Had he almost said her name? Did he know? How could he possibly already know who she was? 

“That being said though,” Adrien continued. “Why tonight, of all nights?” He couldn’t help but smirk at being the one in the know for once. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m flattered to be visited by the heroine of paris like a blushing Juliet, but…”

She wondered briefly if she should be honest, because the answer was honestly just as stupid to her. There was really nothing any more special about tonight than any other night she hadn’t told him how she felt, any other day at school she had failed to get the words out to him between classes. She looked down at the floor for a moment. She could feel Adrien’s eyes searching for anything to identify her in the darkness.

“Chat Noir,” she said at last. “He showed me that I was being silly in wasting time wishing.” 

A familiar smirk crawled across Adrien’s face. Marinette, not seeing the correlation, simply blushed at the young model’s dazzling smile. 

“That Chat Noir, he’s quite a guy then.” Adrien remarked, clearly pleased with himself. “But why me instead of him? He not your type?” 

The flirtatious tone that Adrien was taking with her was making her heart do jumping jacks, and sending her mind into a confused semi-panic. There was clearly something he knew that she didn’t. Had he put Chat Noir up to this? Did he somehow know about her crush ahead of time? Was he just playing with her heart? No, Adrien wasn’t like that. Still, nothing was making sense.

“Well...now that I know that it’s you, what do we do?” 

He had really charged right at the elephant in the room. Marinette was scared. Her heart was pounding for so many reasons all at once that she felt faint. Still, it was far too late to back down now. Even if she wanted to just transform, hop back out the window into the night, and disappear into the light of the moon... she couldn’t. And what’s more, she  _ didn’t  _ want that. She wanted love; she wanted  _ his _ love. She had admired him from afar for far too long. It was time to make her move. Marinette wanted to be his girlfriend, but she couldn’t by herself any more than Ladybug could. He had to know both sides of her, to love them both for their relationship to truly be what she had always wanted.

“I want to show you who I am. It’s asking a lot of you, to keep my secret. I trust you, though. I know you, and I know you can be trusted with a secret.”

_ You have no idea, my Lady. _

“So unless you don’t want it…”

She gave him time to chime up, but heard nothing. She took a shaky breath, another. A third. She stepped out into the light. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was bathed in natural light. Her blue eyes shone in contrast to her dark hair. The pastel colors of her outfit stood out as well. She stood like this, afraid of rejection but hopeful. 

Adrien sat back in disbelief. An attempt to say her name died in his throat as he took in that she was really there. Marinette, his shy classmate, the savior of Paris. She was his partner that had been through so much with him. She was the one to always save the day. Of course it was her, who else could it have been? The dark blue hair, the sky blue eyes. She was the spitting image of his Lady, minus a bright red suit and mask and a yo-yo. She acted like his Lady too, just in different ways. Ladybug saved the day with her lucky charm, while Marinette…

Marinette gave him her lucky charm.

“W-wow…” was all he eventually got out. She crinkled at the word, feeling unsure how positive a reaction that was.

“You’re probably disappointed. I’m not-”

“You  _ are  _ a hero, Marinette.”

Her self-deprecation was snatched from her lips. She formed a blush at his words. She could scarcely believe that he so easily saw the hero in plain old Marinette, the baker’s daughter who was late to everything. 

“It makes so much sense. The noble nature, the knowing everyone’s name from our class...the disgust whenever Chloe called you her ‘best friend.’” He shook his head and laughed. “I can’t believe I never put it together.” 

He got out of bed, feeling a little silly for having put on pajamas. “This makes it all so clear. I love you, Marinette. I have for so long, and I never even realized.” 

Her cheeks ignited instantly, heat radiating from them as her eyes watered. They moved towards one another, feeling something was about to change between them.

“It’s only fair then, that I let you in on a little secret as well.” His smirk had returned to the Adrien smile that made her heart melt. He looked at her with the love in his eyes that she had missed so many times beneath his mask. It was mystifying. He too, had missed the way that she had gazed at him in the halls. He realized that now, and he wanted to make up for every wasted minute. 

Finally, they reached each other, and embraced as if destiny had drawn them to do so. Marinette never wanted to move from his hold, his arms around her like a security blanket. He melted from the feeling of her head resting against him, a love that he had only dreamt about since his mother’s disappearance. He knew it was time. He pulled away just slightly, not daring to let go. At half arm’s-length, he stroked her cheek and looked into her eyes. He brushed her hair behind her ear, revealing her miraculous. The black earring, not possessed by the power of Tikki, shone slightly in the moonlight that eclipsed them both. He touched her cheek again, letting his ring touch her ear. The silver was much brighter even in the dim light, and almost sparkled. She felt the touch of his miraculous to hers, and suddenly the stars aligned. 

“You’re Chat Noir!” She cried, breathlessly. His hand flew to her mouth, ring reflecting light in his eyes at his reaction. He stopped this just as quickly. 

“Sorry, reflex. Someone could hear.” He put his offending hand behind his head in embarrassment

“You’re...you’re my kitty!” She tried again at about half volume. “I can’t... _ you _ ? You made all those dumb cat puns? Flirted with me non-stop?” she sounded almost annoyed that she had never realized, but then her expression softened. “Saved my life countless times? Showered me in compliments every time I-” she stopped before she gave herself an aneurysm from the energy of  _ Oh my God Marinette how did you never see how obvious this is _ ? Instead, she let her nervous energy out the only way she could think of. She grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him down into a kiss. 

**The** kiss. That was what they would call it for years to come. The dancing around each other, both in civilian and superhero life. The almost confessions and misunderstandings, it all became clear. Suddenly, there was only love. Adrien was shocked, but kissed her back like it was all he had. 

“You stupid tomcat,” she said as they finally broke, struggling to catch her breath. “You knew I was coming her to confess my love to you the whole time!” She feigned offense but giggles gave her away.

“Guilty, my Lady.” They both felt the world pause when he called her that for what felt like the first time, and the millionth. 

They spent the next few hours introducing their kwamis, recounting their battles from each perspective. They couldn’t believe how often they had barely missed each other transforming, or detransforming. 

“We’re just...we’re…” 

“Completely  _ blind _ .” Plagg interjected.

“Like the rest of Paris, apparently.” Tikki added, with a chuckle.

“I guess, ironically, I only had eyes for you. Even I didn’t know it.” Adrien heard himself say. He chuckled right after. “That was maybe too cheesy even for Chat.” 

“It was a Chat line for sure, but...sweet.” Marinette said. “A perfect blend, just like you.

Their lips met again, and they held each other for the longest time. 

As the sun began to tease its arrival over the horizon, Marinette and Adrien echoed each others’ yawns. 

“Another sleepless night,” he said frankly. “We’ve had enough of those to last a lifetime.”

“It’s alright, though. Knowing that it’s you with me on patrol, Chat and Adrien, makes me feel even better about it. Let Hawkmoth do his worst. We’re gonna kick his ass.”

Adrien gasped. “Marinette...did you just say that?” 

“I guess I did.” she giggled nervously. “Too much?”

“No,” he shook his head emphatically. “It was...bold, but hopeful. Only my Lady could do both so effortlessly.”

“Okay, Kitty. Your flirting is adorable, but I have to go before my parents wake me up for school.” Tikki flew to Marinette’s side, stomach growling. 

“How about a ride on the Chat Noir Express?” The Chat smirk returned, looking more real on his face than it ever had. “Plagg, claws out!” 

The kwami, who was sitting idly and digesting cheese, was forcibly sucked into the ring as Adrien became Chat Noir in a flash of neon green. Marinette was spellbound throughout the transformation.

“Well, how could I say no to that?” 

He held out his hand, the eyes of Adrien Agreste looking at hers, and they bounded into the early morning light. Though that morning they would be fighting fatigue in class, they never felt stronger together.     

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there you go! I really hope that you all enjoyed my story. I have watched the entirety of Season 2, so I know that this is not at all compliant. It was a fun imagining of the reveal to write, though! I'm still mostly a new writer, so I appreciate any feedback!


End file.
